In many applications, electrical circuitry and other delicate instrumentation together with the end connections between electrical wires or cables are required to operate under ambient conditions where they can be exposed to contaminants such as moisture, chemicals, fire, gases and the like. These contaminants can degrade the components to an extent that they can malfunction. In particular, electrical end connections require shielding from moisture and other ambient conditions to prevent shorts, sparking and disconnections. Typically, components such as electrical circuitry and other electrical elements include the electrical endpoint connections in sealed enclosures, which are designed to prevent the permeation of water and other contaminants into the enclosure. However, the better the seal the more expensive the enclosure.
The prior art contains several approaches for constructing and using such enclosures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,303 discloses a sealed housing and method of sealing for apparatus in meter pit enclosures. The '303 invention appears to teach a sealed housing for a transponder unit in a utility meter pit enclosure. The sealed housing has an appropriately sized tube in which transponder electronics carried by a circuit board and an antenna are inserted from the bottom and fitted into guide structures and then a body of epoxy adhesive/sealant is used to fill the cavity of the tube and encapsulate the electronics and antenna within the tube. The epoxy sealant seals and forms a recessed lower end of the tube, which, in use, appears to be immersible in water within a subsurface pit enclosure. A method of assembling and sealing the unit is also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,041 appears to disclose a waterproof protective cover comprising an upper casing member and a lower casing member that are obtained by cutting a box-like casing molded out of insulating resin materials into two halves in a longitudinal direction of the casing. A sidewall on the left sides of the casing member and a sidewall on the right side of the casing member are pivotably connected by means of hinges in the longitudinal direction of the casing. Thus, these upper and lower casing members can be put together and opened.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,239 appears to teaches an enclosure having a conductive, threaded wire engaging inner surface disposed within a housing and filled with a sealing compound. A flexure cover closes off the enclosure. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,433,275 and 5,239,129 also appears to teach alternate constructions of a waterproof enclosure.
The various prior art enclosures appear to teach a sealing compound filling the enclosure and encapsulating the parts to be protected. Moreover, some of the two-part enclosures utilize a hinged connection between the two parts of the enclosure. A hinged connection generally does not provide a uniform pressure between the two mating parts of the enclosure so as to create a waterproof enclosure without auxiliary sealing means.
Accordingly, there is a need for an endpoint transmitter enclosure or receptacle that is reliable and can be manufactured at a low cost. An enclosure that addresses the aforementioned problems, as well as other related problems, is therefore desirable.